Presumably timed to coincide with the release of the TV miniseries adaptation of
A Gentleman in Moscow, we have a collection of short fiction by author Amor Towles. I loved Towles' first two books (
Rules of Civility and the aforementioned
Gentleman), but thought the more recent
The Lincoln Highway, while engaging enough, was a bit of an odd choice for him in terms of subject-matter -- he's very much a guy who writes about high society, and a group of midwestern teens in the 1950s was a departure that didn't seem like a natural fit for his approach to dialogue, etc. The stories in
Table for Two mostly steer back into the niche that he knows best, i.e., people who have strong opinions about fine dining and exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum. The book is organized into two sections, the first called "New York" and the second "Los Angeles", but the LA section is a single story, the previously released novella "Eve in Hollywood" (apparently this version is revised), which follows a supporting character from
Rules of Civility after she abruptly bolted from Manhattan midway through the events of that novel. I knew that this novella existed, but had never read it before, so I was glad to get the opportunity. It's the largest story in the collection by some way, and is kind of Towles doing his own riff on LA noir in the Cain/Ellroy vein (though nowhere near as bleak or twisted, obviously). A very entertaining read.
